The Seven Last Plagues
An Update from 1991
The Seven Last Plagues were given a suggested interpretation in an article, “An Introduction to the Exodus: A Picture of the Plan of the Ages,” Beauties of the Truth, November 1991. Since that time, new information has surfaced, particularly for Plagues 1 and 6, as reflected in the table below and in the subsequent discussion.
This writer had been unaware that there had been a Long Depression (1870s and 1880s) at the time the original article was written in 1991. Although not prominent in history books, the Long Depression was probably the first truly worldwide calamity since Noah’s Flood. (The Black Death of 1348, killing 25‑50 million in Eurasia, is the only challenger, but its worldwide communication was not then available.)
The Long Depression began with stock market crashes in 1873, Vienna May 09, and New York September 20. (It was originally called The Great Depression, but when that description became used for the depression of the 1930s, the earlier one was then renamed The Long Depression.) Institutionalized Christianity became preoccupied with economic problems and was more limited in its ability to suppress the message that Jesus Christ died once for all, with the resurrection hope for the world and opportunity for eternal human life, rather than eternal torment.
Shortly after the Long Depression began, the Fall planting of 1874 led to an abysmal Spring harvest of 1875 in the Balkan Peninsula. When the Christian farmers could not pay their dhimmitude tax, the Ottoman Turks took everything they had; so the Christian Revolt commenced in June and July. The Ottoman Empire declared bankruptcy in October, 1875, and refused to repay their debts to the professedly‑Christian nations of Europe. The ensuing battles led stepwise to the beginning of Jewish return to Palestine in 1878.
The previous assessment of the first of the seven last plagues is still accurate, but incomplete.
(1) Flies. The call to come out of Babylon sapped the spiritual strength of Protestantism, reducing it towards the level of Catholicism. (Revelation 18:1‑5. Similarly in Genesis 19:1‑26, 2 Kings 2:1‑11.) The harvest message proclaimed that this present evil world is doomed, and that Christ’s Kingdom will entirely displace it. The end of Gentile Times was declared due in 1914 (from Beauties of the Truth, November 1991).
UPDATE ON PLAGUE SIX
The 5th Plague saw first an east wind bringing hungry locusts into all Egypt to devour the barley and flax crops, but it was followed by a mighty west wind to drive them all out again. Sixty years ago, this writer interpreted it to mean the Eastern Bloc would experience reversal and eventually lose to the Western Bloc, and that it would likely be by World War III. As it turned out, it was by local revolutions rather than war.
Thirty years ago, this writer thought that a single event would explain the 6th Plague in both Exodus and Revelation. The events beginning in 2020 also suggest an adjustment here. The drying up of the Euphrates (Revelation 16:12) suggests the drying up of the wealth of Babylon or Christendom. However, it now appears that the darkness immobilizing people for three days (Exodus 10:21‑28) may correspond to the COVID‑19 virus and government decisions to close the international borders to almost everyone. While the virus may have arisen in the latter part of 2019, the closing of international borders began in March 2020. A friend in South Africa informs us that in March 2022 all restrictions there were rescinded. Restrictions in Europe and America have lasted a little longer.
At present, it appears that the events associated with the Pandemic, and government responses, will be a trigger for a Deep Depression. Job creation is driven by small businesses, but many have been damaged or destroyed. Governments have been giving out money lavishly. To cover it, they have been printing money freely, which drives up inflation (i.e., drives down the value of the currency). Rapid inflation precedes each depression. Thus, depression would seem to be inevitable.
It behooves us to watch and see. The Apostle Paul himself said, “We see in a mirror, darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12 ASV). But we should be able to see something in it.
(6) Darkness, so thick that no Egyptian left home during the three days it lasted (Exodus 10:21‑29). The Revelation plague dried up the river Euphrates, around which the Babylonian economy was built (Revelation 16:12‑16). These two descriptions may suggest a great depression will take away the wealth of Roman Catholicism (and other denominations that serve mammon). All this prepares the way for the kings from the sunrising — for the Kingdom of Christ and his Church (from Beauties of the Truth, November 1991).
THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS
Currently, the three great expansionist ideologies of the world are (institutionalized) Christianity, Islam, and Atheism. Between the 6th and 7th of the 7 last plagues, there are to be “three unclean spirits” coming “out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet” (Revelation 16:13‑14 ASV). We may watch to see which of these ideologies, if any, will align with the prophesied unclean spirits. [1]
It may be that these three unclean spirits are also typified by Gideon’s three enemies (Midian, Amalek, Arabs, Judges 7), and by Jehoshaphat’s three enemies (Ammon, Moab, Mount Seir, 2 Chronicles 20).
Side note: In Exodus 12, slaying of the Passover Lamb (a shadow of Jesus’ sacrifice for all mankind) just preceded the last plague. However, Christ’s sacrifice came at his First Advent, not in connection with the death of the Egyptian firstborn (typifying Armageddon). Similarly, at the threshold of the last plague (Armageddon), Revelation 16:15 makes reference to Christ’s return. As in Revelation 1:5, 7, it reminds us that both Jesus’ First and Second Advents are essential to the deliverance of the church and the world, even though both significantly precede Armageddon.
— James Parkinson
[1] Others have suggested Political, Papal, and Protestant — or Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (although Judaism is neither large nor expansionist).